Ace Project Space doubles partnerships

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/04/2017 (3209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Red River College’s innovative Ace Project Space has more than doubled its partnerships and has just opened an expanded operation further down Innovation Alley, taking over a floor at 321 McDermot Ave. in partnership with North Forge Technology Exchange.

The two-year-old program connects business information technology and business technology management students with entrepreneurs-in-residence such as Sue Leclair, the founder of Penguin + Stone, an online wedding market business.

“The Ace Project aced it,” Leclair said. “My specialty is business development, not technology. I had a great idea but I didn’t have the technical skills to build it. If I had to hire someone to build it, it would have taken so much money I would never have been able to get the business off the ground.”

The brainchild of Haider al-Saidi, chairman of RRC’s accounting and computer education program, Ace has already churned out 16 projects and 15 of them are still in business.

“There is lots of demand,” al-Saidi said. “We have eight simultaneous projects going on now and we could not take more. Hopefully, by next term we will be able to take 12 projects all together.”

Leclair’s students built the digital back-end operation for her business that she says is like Expedia for wedding planners where you can book a caterer, wedding dress, flowers and limo all in one place.

“The students don’t just use their technical skills and expertise, that is certainly part of it,” said al-Saidi. “They also develop communication skills and they learn about entrepreneurialism and all the things that go with it.”

Graduates of the program have already come back and become entrepreneurs in residence, working with a new crop of students.

“This is about students working hand-in-hand with private industry on real-world projects in real time,” said Paul Vogt, president of RRC. “It provides our students with leading-edge hands-on training and experience, while providing startups with much-needed technical support. This kind of partnership is essential to business growth and job creation in our province.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca